Islam and Modernization

Is it possible to modernize Islam, or must it be banned, as
some demand, or even scrapped as Dr. Ali Sina advocates in his
book “Understanding Muhammad”?

Radical Islam can only be Defeated through Modernizing Islam

In contrast to most religions of the world, in particular
Christianity and Judaism, Islam has not yet gone through a
modernization process. While Christians and Jews have managed
throughout their history to reconcile religion with freedom, Muslims
have not. Why is that?

Before the Industrial Revolution the Christian puritans had the
say in their societies. Monks in England and France used to roam the
streets and force people to go and pray exactly like the Mutawas
(morality police) in today’s Saudi Arabia.

In 1600 Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake, accused of being
heretic, by the Roman Inquisition for his scientific ideas, which
were incompatible with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Bruno’s
“crime” was he dared to suggest, that the universe was boundless and
that the sun and its planets were but one of a number of similar
systems. He also suggested that there might be other inhabited
worlds with rational beings equal or possibly superior to ourselves.

In 1633 Galileo Galilei was accused of heresy for "following the
position of Copernicus”, which was contrary to the authority of Holy
Scripture”. Under torture, he was forced to his knees to renounce
all belief in Copernican theories, and was thereafter sentenced to
imprisonment for the rest of his life.

The 16th and 17th centuries also witnessed religious wars among
religious and political leaders.

Religious conviction was the basis for pristine political
handling. Kaiser Wilhelm launched the I World War under the premise,
“Gott ist mit uns“ (God is with us).

In old times, followers of Catholicism, Luther, Calvin,
Anabaptists, Quakers, and Unitarians - like radical Muslims, these
days - believed that their set of moral rules were superior to all
others, prescribed by God, and enforced by punishment, and wanted
everybody to observe and impose these rules. By failing to do so,
people offend the divine being and corrupt society. For believing
so, they waged religious wars.

Die hard Lutherans attacked Calvinists in Berlin and murdered
thousands of them. In the streets of Paris, Catholics killed more
than 3,000 Huguenots

Radical Muslims nowadays are acting like Christians in the old
ages. In particular radical Sunnis; they are not at war only with
the infidels, i.e. non-Muslims, but also with the Shiites, the
Sufis, the Alawites, Ismaelites, the Druze, and followers of other
Muslim sects.

The rise of capitalism, expansion of education, and scientific
research in the Western Christian world paved the way for more and
more secularism. The German political economist Max Weber linked
Calvinism to the rise of capitalism. Calvinism became an influential
factor in modernizing religion.

During and after the Industrial Revolution and state building,
people in England began to feel of themselves as English before
feeling Protestants, and in France people thought of themselves as
French, first and foremost.

In the Arab and Muslim world at large, there is no similar story
to be told. The golden ages (700-1300) were followed by five
centuries of Othman rule, characterized by despotism, abject
backwardness, and poverty. The majority of Arabs thought of
themselves as Muslims in the first place. Arab states did not exist
until European colonial powers created these states by drawing
arbitrary borders on the map.

During the golden ages, the Muslim empire stretched form Spain to
Indonesia – an empire that encouraged learning, tolerated critical
scholars, translated and preserved scientific books. After that, as
the West began rising to establish societies based on personal,
scientific and religious freedom, the Arab-Muslim civilization
slipped into retreat.

Historians tell the story of Mirza Abu Talib. After visiting the
House of Commons in London and hearing that it was debating
penalties for criminals, he was amazed and later told his friends
back home that the English did not have Shari’a therefore they were
enacting their own laws. “How stupid!” Abu Talib commented.

Since then, Arabs and Muslims have been about where Europe was in
the eleventh century, lacking national history, political and
economic development in the way to democracy, and reconciliation of
religion and freedom. After independence in the 20th century,
especially during the Cold War, they were ruled by authoritarian
regimes, tolerated by the democratic West for geopolitical
considerations,

Fundamentalist Muslims rediscovered Islam in the 20th century.
Hassan Al Banna established the Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1920s
as the “only” path for development and social justice. He preached
that Islam was the solution and there was no better law on earth
than the Shari’a which comprises both the Koran and Hadeeth. Al
Banna stressed that Shari’s contained a vast collection of sacred
laws, which prescribed how Muslim should live their mundane and
religious life.

In modern history, while the majority of Christians and Jews
ignore atrocious passages in the Bible and Talmud, in particular
those that denigrate and discriminate against women, and interpret
them in historical contexts, fundamentalist Muslims subscribe to
each and every atrocious passage in the Koran and Hadeeth as sacred
laws. Check out passages from the Bible and Qu’an at the end of this
article.

While Christianity and Judaism went through a modernization
process and “civilized” their own religion, as Rolf Schieder put it,
Islam has never gone through such a process, neither in the golden
ages nor in modern times. Efforts to do so are choked before they
are born. Influential religious establishments like Al Azhar and
Wahabism oppose any reform or modernization. They adamantly adhere
to both the Koran and Hadeeth as sacred scriptures, which can not
and must not be re-interpreted. Ijtihad, critical interpretations
are dismissed as blasphemy, and their “perpetrators” are persecuted
as heretics.

Most recently, Pope Benedict XVI insists that Darwin’s theory of
evolution is not at odds with the Christian faith.

Arab secular regimes like that of Nasser in Egypt, Assad in
Syria, And Saddam Hussian in Iraq fought fiercely Muslim
fundamentalists, but they never encouraged modernizing Islam. Nobody
dared suggest reforming Islam. The religious establishment has
always been extremely conservative.

However, except Saudi Arabia, all Arab states have, to a great
extent, ignored the Shari’a, as a source of legislation and adopted
Western laws.

Even the rule of the Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Attatürk did
not witness any efforts to modernize Islam. Attatürk focused on
transforming Turkey into a modern secular state. By doing so he
simply marginalized Islam, but did not push for its modernization.
Enlightened Muslim scholars were not available in Turkey at the
time.

In light of the fact that the majority of influential Arab
‘Ulama’ (Islam theologians) are nowadays conservative, who rarely
read a book other than the Koran and Hadeeth and relevant works,
lack of a modern independent economy, and more than 50% of the
population is illiterate and jobless, living in abject poverty, no
serious successful efforts have been made to reform Islam, i.e.
modernize it. Fundamentalist fatwas (edicts) dominate the religious
scene in Arab and Muslim world.

Even Islam experts like Muhammad Arkoun, Muhammad Iqbal, Malik
Bin Nabi, Muhammad Talbi, Falzur Rahman, and Ali Bulac, who are
portrayed, at least in western academic circles, as
modernists/reformists, have not dared touch on atrocious passages in
the Koran as unacceptable and irrational in the 20th century. They
highlight those passages in the Koran which preach mercy and peace
and ignore those passages which explicitly incite to hatred and
violence.

Defeating radical Islam militarily has not worked either. Nasser,
Assad, and most recently the West, have failed to defeat radical
Islam. On the contrary, most intelligence reports indicate that the
number of radical Muslims is on the rise.

Attatürk’s experiment also failed. Islamists in Turkey are
increasingly gaining more ground, and Turkey is getting more Islamic
conservative than ever.

Islamism is spreading very fast although, in practice, the
fundamentalist project is void and has an Achilles heel. Its
followers ignore the fact that the golden era flourished because of
its openness to other cultures and tolerance. The utopian dream of
establishing a Muslim state, Muslim Umma, (global nation) as it
existed in the golden era is wishful thinking in an increasingly
sophisticated world. Apart from a headscarf, sex-segregation, and
suicide bombing, the Islamists have nothing substantial to offer.

In fact, it was the same kind of radical Muslims who contributed
to the collapse of the golden era when they slammed the door shut in
the face of applying reason and independent thought.

In reality, Islamist fundamentalists fear free debates and
freedom of expression through which they would be exposed. What
remains is violence, the only “argument” they possess.

In the meantime, Islamists have succeeded in intimidating the
West and recruiting apologists. The Danish caricatures of Muhammad,
comments by the Pope in Germany, and withdrawing Mozart’s Idomeneo
opera are just a few examples.

The West is facing an unprecedented conundrum. While it is
upholding freedom of expression as a priceless and indispensable
value, it is passively watching how Islamists are intimidating by
killing and maiming, and advancing their destructive theocratic
intolerant agenda, also in Western communities.

The Islamists’ strategy is very clear. They divide the world into
“we and they” and back it propagandistically with Huntington’s
“Clash of Civilizations”. They blame “them”, the West, for the
spread of poverty in the Muslim world. Most recently, they are
alleging that the international financial crisis has not affected
the Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, which
ostensibly observe “Islamic financial laws”. This allegation is
refuted by reality on the ground. Also “Muslim countries” are
suffering from the current crisis. Huge sums of petrodollars have
been injected by these states to offset the immense losses of its
citizens.

In addition, the US State Department has repeatedly urged Arab
oil-rich countries to stop their Muslim “charity” organizations from
funding terrorist organizations.

In all this, the West cannot wash its hands in innocence. In one
way or another it contributed to the rise and spread of Islamism.

The West, spearheaded by the USA, was instrumental in fostering
Islamists. It assiduously worked to thwart Arab nationalism and stop
the spread of socialism during the Cold War. The cooperation between
Islamists and the West reached its zenith when the latter massively
supported the Talibans to oust the Soviet troops from Afghanistan,
which was followed by the rise of Usama Bin Laden.

The wake-up call of September 11 was an unprecedented shock to
America and the West at large, a blow that left these powers in
disarray and mess. In this mess, they still do not want to realize
that they are harvesting what they have sewn, that they supported
the wrong ally. Still worse, they do not want to draw lessons from
their foul foreign policy towards Arab and Muslim regimes.

Still until today, while the West decries the dismal human rights
in China, Russia, and Zimbabwe, it ignores the abysmal human rights
in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan.

After 9/11, Samuel Huntington’s concept of “Clash of
Civilizations” was hijacked by both Islamists and some non-Muslims.
The truth of the matter is, such a clash does not exist. The clash
is rather between Islamists and the rest of the world. However,
those Muslims who are disappointed by the West for supporting Arab
totalitarian regimes also tend to approve of this clash.

The majority of Muslims across the globe are ordinary people.
Some of them are religious and some are less. However, due to the
fact that over 50% of the Muslim population are illiterate and in
view of the fact that the Koran is written in old Arabic, very few
of them understand this book. Besides, several studies indicate that
10% of men and 5% of women read the Koran.

Hence the majority of Muslims remain unaware of the atrocious
passages in the Koran and Hadeeth. They only know what their imams
and religious leaders tell them about Islam. Muslims who are aware
of these passages act like enlightened Christians and Jews; they
ignore them or privately interpret them within historical contexts.

Basically, the core of the problem lies in Saudi schools and
madrassas in Muslim communities which teach hatred, discrimination
and violence against women and non-Muslims. In some of these
schools, teenagers are urged to memorize the Koran from cover to
cover. The content and language of the scripture are praised as
unique and divine. Students at these schools become easy preys for
local militants who once in a while drop by to recruit terrorists.

Verses like 89 of Surah 4 which says, “Slay the enemy wherever
you find them” becomes a powerful tool for justifying the
unjustifiable.

Modernizing Islam must come from the bottom of the population
pyramid. The struggle for modernization must be fought on two
fronts: on the economic front and on the medial informational one.

Economic development, jobs, literacy, normal schools, and medical
care would make the difference and make people oppose radical
Islamists. Freedom of expression would back this process. An
economically independent citizen, even with a modest level of
education, is usually rational. Until then, the tunnel is long and
thorny. This project is costly, but promising. All efforts must be
invested in it. It is worth it if the world wants to establish peace
and prosperity everywhere. It must be established everywhere in an
increasingly globalized world.

However, realistically speaking, neither the Arab and Islamic
regimes nor their religious establishments would, at present, allow
any reform of Islam in a democratic and free climate. That implies
self-suicide for both. Therefore, reforming Islam will have to wait
yet for two to three decades until this becomes a tangible reality.

The West, spearheaded by the USA could help accelerate the
process of reform. The world community must raise the pressure on
the Muslims states to reform Islam.

[Gen 3:16] God said to Eve when she
tempted Adam, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing, in
pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for
your husband and he shall rule over you.

MENSES IN THE BIBLE

[Levi. 15:19] When a woman has a
discharge of blood which in her regular discharge from her body, she
shall be apart seven days. And WHOSOEVER TOUCHES HER SHALL BE
UNCLEAN until the evening. And every thing that she lies upon in her
SEPARATION shall be unclean. Every thing also that SHE SITS UPON
SHALL BE UNCLEAN. And whosoever touches her bed shall wash his
clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the
evening. And whosoever touches anything THAT SHE SAT UPON SHALL WASH
HIS CLOTHES, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the
evening.

And if it be on her bed, or any
thing whereon she sits when he touches it: he SHALL BE UNCLEAN UNTIL
THE EVENING. And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be
upon him: he shall be unclean seven days, and all the bed WHEREON
SHE LIES SHALL BE UNCLEAN.

And if a woman has an issue of her
blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run
beyond the time of her SEPARATION: All the days of the issue of her
uncleanness shall be as the days of her SEPARATION, she shall be
unclean. Every bed whereon she lies all the days of her issue shall
be unto her as the bed of her SEPARATION, and whatsoever she sits
upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her SEPARATION.

And WHOSOEVER TOUCHES THOSE THINGS
SHALL BE UNCLEAN and shall wash his clothes and bathes himself in
water, and he BE UNCLEAN UNTIL THE EVENING. But if she be cleansed
of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after
that she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take unto
her two turtles or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest
to the door of the meeting tent.

POSTPARTUM IN THE BIBLE

[Levi. 12:2] If a woman conceives,
and bears a MALE CHILD, then she shall be unclean seven days.. But
if she bears a FEMALE CHILD then she shall be unclean two weeks.

AFTER AN INTERCOURSE

[Levi. 15:16] If a man has an
emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water, and be
unclean until the evening. Every garment and every skin on which the
semen comes shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the
evening.

[Levi. 22:17] WHEN THE SUN IS DOWN
HE SHALL BE CLEAN.

[Levi. 15:18] If a man lies with a
woman and has an emission of semen both of them shall bathe
themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening.

REJOICE WITH THEM !!

[Prov. 5:18] REJOICE WITH THE WIFE
of your youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; LET
HER BREASTS SATISFY YOU AT ALL TIMES.

[Song. 8:8] We have a little sister,
and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day
when is spoken for? I was a wall, and MY BREASTS WERE LIKE TOWERS.

WOMAN'S VEIL IN THE BIBLE

[1 Corin. 11:5] But any woman who
prays and prophecies with her head unveiled dishonors her head - it
is the same as if her head were shaven, for if a woman will not veil
herself then she should cut off her hair. But if it is disgraceful
for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil. JUDGE FOR
YOURSELVES; is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head
uncovered? (It seems that Christians are unaware of the obligation
of the veil in the Bible, which made me put their verses in this
book, and for those who attack the veil in Islam should notice these
verses of their own Bible, and notice also this verse "Judge not,
that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will
be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.)

WOMAN IS NOT THE GLORY OF GOD

[1 Corin. 11:7] For a man ought not
to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman
is the glory of man, for man was not made for woman, but woman from
man, neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

REMAIN SILENCE!

[1 Tim 2:11-14] Let the woman learn
in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam
was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman
being deceived was in the transgression.

SILENCE IN CHURCHES

[1 Corin 14:34] Let your women keep
silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak;
but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at
home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

WOMAN IS EVIL !

[Zech. 5:7] The leaden cover was
lifted, there was a woman sitting, and he (the angel) said: this is
wickedness.

GOD MAKES PEOPLE FALL IN ADULTERY

[Amos 7:16] God said to Am-a-zi'ah
"You say, prophesy not against Israel and drop not your word against
the house of Isaac? Thus the Lord says: YOUR WIFE SHALL BE AN HARLOT
in the city and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the
sword."

[Jer. 8:9] They have rejected the
word of the Lord. Therefore I WILL GIVE THEIR WIVES UNTO OTHERS. [Jer.
13:22] "For the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts
discovered, AND YOUR HEELS MADE BARE. I will discover your skirts
upon your face, that your shame may appear I have seen your
adulteries, and your neighings the lewdness of your whoredoms."

HIDE WOMAN'S VOICE !

[1 Corin. 14:34] The woman should
keep silence in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak,
but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is any
thing they desire to know let them ask their husbands at home. For
it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

[1 Timo. 2:9] Woman should adorn
themselves modestly and sensibly in seemly apparel, not with braided
hair or gold or pearls or costly attire but by good deeds.

WOMAN FOR THE MAN

[1 Corin 11:5-10] But every woman
that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovereddishonoureth her
head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the
woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame
for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man
indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and
glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is
not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man
created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause
ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels."

HOW TO RESCUE HER HUSBAND

[Deut. 25:11] When men fight with
one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her
husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her
hand seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her
hand; your eye shall have not pity.

MARRIAGE BY FORCE !!

[Deut. 25:5] If brothers dwell
together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead
shall not be marries outside of the family to a stranger; her
husband's brother shall go into her, and take her as his wife.

WHAT IF HE REFUSES ?

[Deut. 25:7] And if the man does not
wish to take his brother's wife then his brother's wife shall go up
to the gate of the elders, and say, "My husband's brother refuses to
perpetuate his brother's name in Israel.. Then the elders of his
city shall call him.

And if he persists.. Then his
brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, and
pull his sandal off his foot, and spit in his face; and shall answer
and say: So it shall be done to the man who does not build up his
brother's house. And the name of his house shall be called in Israel
THE HOUSE OF HIM THAT HAD HIS SANDAL PULLED OFF.

UPRIGHT WOMEN!

[Eccless 7:26-28] And I find more
bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap
and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her,
but the sinner she will ensnare....while I was still searching but
not finding, I found one upright man among a thousand but not one
upright woman among them all".

KILL WOMEN, CHILDREN, ANIMALS !!

[Ezek. 9:5] And the Lord said, "Go
through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have
you pity. SLAY UTTERLY OLD AND YOUNG, BOTH MAIDS AND LITTLE
CHILDREN, AND WOMEN. [Num. 31:1] And the Lord said unto Moses,
"Avenge the children of the Mid'-an'ites.. They warred against the
Mid'-i-an'ites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slay all the
males. And they took all women as captives, and their little ones,
and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and
all their goods. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt,
and all their goodly castles, with fire.

Moses said, "HAVE YOU SAVED ALL THE
WOMEN ALIVE? NOW KILL EVERY MALE AMONG THE LITTLE ONES, AND KILL
EVERY WOMAN that has known a man by lying with him, but all the
young girls who have not known a man by lying with him keep alive
for yourselves.

[Josh 6:16] Joshua said to the
people of Israel, "The Lord has given you the city (of the
Canaanites).. all silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron,
are consecrated unto the Lord: They shall come into the treasury of
the Lord. The people utterly DESTROYED ALL THAT WAS IN THE CITY,
BOTH MAN AND WOMAN, YOUNG AND OLD, AND OX AND SHEEP, AND ASS, WITH
THE EDGE OF THE SWORD.

KILLING, KIDNAPPING, SLAVERY

[Josh. 16:10] So the Canaanites have
dwelt in the midst of E'phraim to this day, but become slaves to do
forced labour. (see also Joshua 17:13 and Judg. 1:30) [Judg. 21:10]
The congregation of Benjamin sent twelve thousand of their bravest
men, and commanded them, "Go and smite the inhabitants of
Ja'-besh-gil'ead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the
little ones. Every male and every woman that has lain with a male
YOU SHALL UTTERLY DESTROY.

And they found among the inhabitants
four hundred YOUNG VIRGINS who had not known a man by lying with
him; and they brought them to the camp of Shiloh, which is the land
of Canaan. And Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them
the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Ja'besh-gil'ead,
but they did not suffice for them.

STEALING WOMEN !!

And they commanded the Benjaminites,
saying:"Go and lie in wait in the vineyard, and watch, if the
daughters of Shiloh go out to dance in the dances, then come out of
the vineyard and seize each man his wife from the daughters of
Shiloh. And the Benjaminites did so, and took their wives from the
dancers whom they caught.

KILL THEM AND TAKE THEIR PROPERTIES

[Deut. 20:10] When you draw near to
a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if its
answer to you is peace and it opens to you, then all the people who
are found in it SHALL BE FORCED LABOUR FOR YOU AND SHALL SERVE YOU.

But if it makes no peace with you,
then you shall besiege it, .. YOU SHALL PUT ALL ITS MALES TO THE
SWORD, BUT THE WOMEN AND THE LITTLE ONES, the cattle and every thing
else in the city all its spoil, YOU SHALL TAKE AS BOOTY FOR
YOURSELVES; AND YOU SHALL ENJOY THE SPOIL OF YOUR ENEMIES.

Passages from the Koran

Literally, the Koran says the
following about the Jews, Christians, and other “unbelievers”:

“O you who believe! do not take the
Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other;
and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is
one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.” (Sura
5, verse 51).

“And the Jews say: Uzair is the son
of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah;
these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of
those who disbelieved before; may Allah DESTROY them; how they are
turned away!” (Sura 9, verse 30).

“And the Jews will not be pleased
with you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say:
Surely Allah's guidance, that is the (true) guidance. And if you
follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you
shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper.” (Sura 2, verse
120).

“And KILL them (the unbelievers)
wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove
you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight
with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but
if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the
unbelievers.” (Sura 2, verse 191).

“Let not the believers take the
unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does
this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you
should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully; and Allah
makes you cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and to Allah is
the eventual coming.” (Sura 3, verse 28).

“And guard yourselves against the
fire which has been prepared for the unbelievers.” (Sura 3, verse
131)

“And when you journey in the earth,
there is no blame on you if you shorten the prayer, if you fear that
those who disbelieve will cause you distress, surely the unbelievers
are your open ENEMY.” (Sura 4, verse 101).

“O you who believe! fight those of
the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you
hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against
evil).” (Sura 9, verse 123).

“Surely We have prepared for the
unbelievers chains and shackles and a burning fire.” (Sura 76, verse
4).

“O you who believe! if you obey a
party from among those who have been given the Book (The Jews and
Christians), they will turn you back as unbelievers after you have
believed.” (Sura 3, verse 100).

“And their taking usury (interests
on money) though indeed they were forbidden it and their devouring
the property of people falsely, and We have prepared for the
unbelievers from among them a painful chastisement.” (Sura 4. verse
161).

“Surely Allah has cursed the
unbelievers (Jews, Christians and followers of other faiths) and has
prepared for them a burning fire.” (Sura 33, verse 64).

“And whoever does not believe in
Allah and His Apostle, then surely We have prepared burning fire for
the unbelievers.” (Sura 48, verse 13).

Does Allah discriminate? The Koran
says:

“You are the best of the nations
raised up for (the benefit of) men; you enjoin what is right and
forbid the wrong and believe in Allah; and if the followers of the
Book had believed it would have been better for them; of them (some)
are believers and most of them are transgressors.” (Sura 3, verse
110).

Therefore, what does the Koran say
about those who turn their back to Islam and commit apostasy?

“They desire that you should
disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all)
alike; therefore take not from among them (the unbelievers) friends
until they flee (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back,
then seize them and KILL them wherever you find them, and take not
from among them a friend or a helper.” (Sura 4, verse 89).

Now, what does the Koran say about
women? Here are also some quotations:

“Men are superior to women because
Allah has made so. Therefore good women are obedient, and (as to)
those (women) on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and
leave them alone in the sleeping-places and BEAT them; then if they
obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High,
Great.” (Sura 4, verse 34).

“And as for those who are guilty of
an indecency from among your women, call to witnesses against them,
four (witnesses) from among you; then if they bear witness confine
them to the houses until death takes them away or Allah opens some
way for them.” (Sura 4, verse 15).

According to the Koran, a woman’s
testimony is worth half of that of a man.

O you who believe! when you deal
with each other in contracting a debt for a fixed time then call in
to witness from among your men two witnesses; but if there are not
two men, then one man and two women from among those whom you choose
to be witnesses, so that if one of the two errs, the second of the
two may remind the other.” (Sura 2, verse 282).

As far as sex is concerned, women
are sex objects, according to the Koran. They must be ready for
intercourse any time the husband wishes so.

“Your wives are a tilth for you, so
go into your tilth when you like, and do good beforehand for
yourselves, and be careful (of your duty) to Allah, and know that
you will meet Him, and give good news to the believers.” (Sura 2,
verse 223).

During menstruation, however, men
should keep away from women; they are filthy. The Koran says:

“It (menstruation) is a discomfort;
therefore keep aloof from the women during the menstrual discharge
and do not go near them until they have become clean; then when they
have cleansed themselves, go in to them as Allah has commanded you;
surely Allah loves those who turn much (to Him), and He loves those
who purify themselves.” (Sura 2, verse 222).

Women, according to the Koran, are,
in general, unclean creature. After a Muslim has washed and prepared
himself for prayer, he should not touch a woman. Therefore, “pious”
Muslims never shake hands with women.

“O you who believe! do not go near
prayer until you have washed yourselves; and if you have touched
women, and you cannot find water, betake yourselves to pure earth,
then wipe your faces and your hands; surely Allah is Pardoning,
Forgiving.” (Sura 4, verse 43).

In case of inheritance, a woman
inherits half of the portion a man inherits:

“They ask you for a decision of the
law. Say: Allah gives you a decision concerning the person who has
neither parents nor offspring; if a man dies (and) he has no son and
he has a sister, she shall have half of what he leaves, and he shall
be her heir she has no son; but if there be two (sisters), they
shall have two-thirds of what he leaves; and if there are brethren,
men and women, then the male shall have the like of the portion of
two females; Allah makes clear to you, lest you err; and Allah knows
all things.” (Sura 4, verse 176).

And what kind of punishment does a
thief get, according to the Koran, regardless how much they steal?

“And (as for) the man who steals and
the woman who steals, cut off their hands as a punishment for what
they have earned, an exemplary punishment from Allah; and Allah is
Mighty, Wise.” (Sura 5, verse 38).

Saudi Arabia is the only country in
the world that uses the Koran as its day-to-day law for all kinds of
disputes and crimes. It is the Shari’a (Islamic law). For Islamists
and conservative Muslims, Shari’a is the constitution and law that
must prevail everywhere. They argue, what is better than the law of
Allah which He, via the Engle Gabriel revealed to the Prophet
Muhammad 1400 years ago?

King Abdullah, the absolute monarch
of Saudi Arabia, said on a televised speech August 27, 2008, “We do
not need democracy, we do not need political parties, we do not need
Western human rights, we do not need their freedom of speech. What
we need is the Koran. It regulates our life perfectly. It is the
best legislation in the history of mankind, it is the word of Allah.
There is nothing better than Allah’s law.”

The “Hadeeth”, a collection of
statements and comments which Prophet Muhammad allegedly made during
his life time is also full of atrocities. Here is a sample:

“A woman came to the Prophet and
admitted that she had committed adultery and thereafter became
pregnant. The Prophet summoned her husband and all people of Median
(in Saudi Arabia). He said, ‘This woman committed adultery.
Therefore, after she delivers her innocent baby, all of you are
going to stone her to death. This is Allah’s verdict.’ After she
delivered her baby she was stoned to death in the center of the
town.” (Narrated by Muslim, (a close contemporary follower of
Muhammad), cited by Khoury, The Koran, p. 550).

Dr. Sami Alrabaa, an ex-Muslim, is a sociology professor and an Arab/Muslim
culture specialist. Before moving to Germany he taught at Kuwait
University, King Saud University, and Michigan State University.